The stigmata of late congenital syphilis: an analysis of 100 patients.

Analysis of the stigmata of congenital syphilis in two study populations indicates that the imprints of the disease are the same, whether the patient population is of Caribbean or of North American origin. If the Columbian theory of origin of syphilis were correct, the longer syphilization of the West Indies might have tended to lessen the effects of the disease by attenuating Treponema pallidum. The presence of yaws and pinta in the West Indies may even have had an immunizing effect. The similar findings in the two population groups suggests that the events postulated by the Columbian theory did not take place.